Mini fridge wont work, not enough capacity, a computer as a whole produces a lot more heat then a mini fridge is designed to move.
Using phase change cooling to cool air to then in turn cool your pc is horribly inefficient as air makes a better insulator then conductor of heat. With the same compressor and a direct die or chiller application you would be able to reach temperatures much much lower. Consequently due to poor heat conductivity of air and the design of the evaps in small freezers and household refrigerators in order for this to work with air you need a very large compressor.
You can get a freezer that is large enough to handle the heat load (it would be huge) but its still a poor idea. Part of the reason the freezer would have to be huge, and I mean huge, is because the evap is usually not designed for high heat load and is usually a bent plate with inner channels. For this to really work it would be nice to replace it with a pipe radiator coil type evap like in air conditioning and put a fan on it. Really large freezers are actually made this way.
My problems with total encasement cooling (provided there is enough capacity) are:
-No need to cool everything as there is zero benefit and its just a waste of energy
-Wasting capacity on components that do not need it hurts your indirectly by not providing that cooling where it can actually help; cpu/gpu. Ie, with the same compressor (electricity consumption) you can attain much better results by using a more efficient method (direct die or chiller)
-Condensation problems as you would have to insulate every part of your pc
-Hard drives do not take well to temperatures around 0C and below as magnetic properties change with temperature.
DarkVirusVx said:
Freezer are not meant to run there compressor all the time. With the heat in the there the compressor would burn out very quick.
Actually you can use a freezer and there is nothing wrong with running the compressor 24/7. The compressors in single stage direct die coolers; vapochill, prometia, custom units, etc, are no different and they can and do run 24/7 just fine. The only thing that can really hurt its lifespan is opersating temperature, so keeping the compressor well cooler is importent for long life.
Also for the record my retarded mini fridge in order to keep my beer and soda cold like I like it seems to run 24/7 for the most part, no problems so far.